Fear pattern

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In advertising, a fear pattern is a sequence of fear arousal and fear reduction that is felt by the viewing audience when exposed to an advertisement,^[1] which attempts to threaten the audience by presenting a negative physical, psychological or social consequence that is likely to occur if they engage in a particular behaviour. Fear appeals are commonly used in social marketing campaigns.^{[clarification needed]} These are sometimes called “threat appeals”, however the label “fear appeals” is justified if the appeal can be shown to arouse fear.